The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Internet-based printing provides convenience and versatility. It allows submitting print jobs from any computer device with Internet access to an Internet-based service, and allows executing the submitted print jobs on any printer managed by the Internet-based service.
Internet-based printing solutions provide a broad range of services, including an ability to print on any network printer from applications, such as web applications, mobile applications and desktop applications. Examples of Internet-based printing solutions include the Google Cloud Printing (GCP) service.
However, conventional Internet-based printing solutions usually lack the ability to provide support for defining and enforcing various rules, such as the rules for printing in a resource conservation mode. Printing in a resource conservation mode is often referred to as green printing, and imposes restrictions on the amount of consumable printing resources used, such as paper and toner. Imposing green printing rules on printing using Internet-based printing services would allow printing that is mindful of the printing cost and the environment.
Furthermore, conventional Internet-based printing solutions usually lack the ability to enforce proper billing of the users who utilize network-connected printers. For example, conventional Internet-based printing solutions usually do not support quota-based billing rules for the usage of the printing paper or the usage of the color toners.